The Dye Pot

Spring Violets

Materials

Approximately 3 ounces Blauband sock yarn (80% wool, 20% nylon)
PAAS dye tablets: 2 blue, 1 violet
White vinegar
Water

Method

Crock pot

Colorfast?

Yes

Color name

Spring Violets

Soaked the yarn in tepid water, dissolved the dye in vinegar and water, poured dye bath into the crock pot and put yarn in dye bath, setting the crock to high. The dye took less than 2 hours to exhaust - this was a surprisingly quick job. The crock pot was turned off and the yarn left to cool. Then the yarn was washed and rinsed thoroughly and hung to dry.






This was another over dye of a color that I just finally decided I didn't much care for. The original color (as you can see above) isn't bad, but I wanted something with a little more "oomph" and that didn't resemble Victorian mourning quite so much :)





This yarn was oddly fuzzy and stuck to everything - my sweater, my fingers (which are a bit dry, admittedly), and itself. It was a real job to wind the skein on the swift and even more of a job to wind the balls once the yarn was dry. I will say, though, the yarn has a really nice, soft feel to it. It is also very fine - finer than I generally think of for sock yarn.





The swatch was done on size 1 US (2,25 mm) needles and could easily have been worked on size 0 US (2 mm) or even finer. My hands are up to the task but unfortunately my eyes aren't so this will probably be used doubled, or stranded with something else.

Notes: The yarn dried to an interesting combination of colors. Predominant is a muted blue-violet. There are also bits of blue-gray and muted magenta. As far as the crock pot goes, this has been the fastest job yet - no idea why :) I have some Schaeffer Anne in a royal blue...





...(on the right) that is also too fine a yarn for me to work with comfortably and I may put the two together to see what happens :)

Posted by Robbyn on 03/31 at 11:55 AM